December in Royal Woods
by Exotos135
Summary: A series of one-shots, not necessarily related with each other, detailing some events that happen during the month of December in Royal Woods.
1. Chapter 1

It was a snowy day in the city of Royal Woods, and why wouldn't it be? It was December, the month of Christmas! It was only natural for an endless barrage of snow to fall from the sky, covering the streets in it!

Perfect for a little snowball fight, as Luan and Lisa could attest.

"I may not be allowed to use machinery since the snow day incident from last year, but that doesn't mean you're getting an easy win, comedic sister unit!" Lisa boasted as she prepared a snowball. "I'm the undefeated snowball battle queen for a reason!"

Lisa threw her snowball, and Luan narrowly dodged it before throwing a snowball of her own.

"That's because nobody's dared to challenge your authority, until I came along!" Luan boasted in return. "And once I take the title from you, you're going to eat your words!"

"Hopefully separately," Lisa blurted as she prepared another snowball. "I don't like to eat words that are mixed up."

Luan chuckled and prepared to throw a snowball... until a familiar voice spoke:

"Luan?"

The joker dropped her snowball to the ground and turned around to see none other than Maggie.

"Hi, Maggie-!"

And then she got hit by a snowball.

"Yes, victory is mine!" Lisa shouted with pride.

Luan simply threw a snowball at Lisa in the middle of her victory dance, causing her to fall into the snow-covered floor face-first.

"Sorry about that, Lisa's really into snowball fights," Luan calmly said as she goth approached her. "Anyway, is there something you need?"

The goth smiled, almost as if she was hoping the comedian would say. "As a matter of fact, I do need your help; You see, my family somehow forgot to get a tree to use as our "Christmas Tree" for the holiday, and now, I need you to help me cut down a decent tree."

The joker hummed. "I don't know, Maggie. I mean, I don't like self-deprecation, specially because it involves a person putting themselves in a sad mood. But it sounds like you need somebody strong to get this done, and I'm strong with comedy, not strong in... strength."

"Can you operate a saw-blade?"

"I guess so?"

"Then you'll do, let's go."

The goth grabbed the comedian's arm and dragged her to the main street, where they looked around as they headed closer to a patch of grass with several trees in it, all with some number of snowflakes covering them.

"Wow, those trees look beautiful," Luan remarked as Maggie nonchalantly took out the saw-blade. "But, uh, which tree are we going to cut down? And is it even a good idea to do that?"

"Simple, we're going to cut down the one in the middle; It's not bigger than our house, and it has the perfect number of snowflakes, in my opinion anyway," the goth walked to the tree she was talking about, with Luan following her as she added, "As for your second question, does it really matter? People do this every day on Christmas time, and nothing bad ever comes out of it."

Maggie raised the saw-blade to Luan. "Now, please help me cut it down."

The comedian hesitantly grabbed the other end of the thing, and promptly helped the goth slowly but surely cut down the large tree, with the only thing heard being the sound of the saw as it cut through the tree's trunk.

Once they cut it all the way, the tree slowly tipped to fall to the right, giving the girls just enough time to go to that side and catch the falling tree. And though Luan showed a bit of difficulty at first, she managed to gather enough strength to keep her grip on the thing.

"See? I knew you were strong!" Maggie told the comedian with a small smile. "Well, not really, but this is still a plus! Now let's go back to my house before _he_ spots us."

Luan raised an eyebrow. "Who's he?"

"Hey!"

The girls turned around and saw Flip flailing his fists up and down in a fury.

"What are you doing with my merchandise!?"

The girls immediately ran away as fast as they could, prompting Flip to turn around and shout:

"Release the hounds!"

Nothing happened.

"I need to get some hounds. Preferably cheap ones."

 _Meanwhile, back with the duo..._

Maggie and Luan reached Maggie's house and dropped the tree on the ground, giving themselves some time to catch their breath.

"Haha, that went a lot better than I thought it would," Maggie remarked in surprise. "I honestly thought you were gonna ruin it with one of your pranks, but-"

"Maggie, we stole some of Flip's merchandise! He's bound to _flip_ out!" Luan giggled, but then put on a serious tone as she lifted the tree, or tried to at least. "But talking seriously, we need to give this back to him before he sends somebody after us!"

"Whoa, hold it right there, Luan!" Maggie scolded before forcing the girl to put the tree down. "Flip's well known for being both a cheapskate and a sleazy businessman, surely nobody will mind if he's missing a tree or two."

"Maggie, stealing stuff is not okay!" Luan hissed.

"Oh yeah? You know what else is not okay?" Maggie grabbed Luan by the neck of her sweater and pulled her closer. "Ripping off people during Christmas time every year, and suffering absolutely no consequence for it, while the people you ripped off have to live with the fact they've been tricked during a time that's supposed to be joyful!"

Then the emo pushed Luan away as she bitterly added, "And that's exactly what Flip's been doing ever since he started his "Christmas tree" business! I mean, where do you think he got the trees in the first place?!"

The comedian tilted her head and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Follow me."

Luan, though hesitant to oblige after what the emo made her do a while ago, felt that there was something more to this situation, so she nodded and followed the girl to the backyard... where she saw a part of the snowy ground that seemed to be lower than the rest. So they walked to it, and dug the snow until a disturbing

A large hole in the ground, where something was clearly ripped out of it. In fact, the hole seemed to be just perfect for the tree they just got...

Oh no.

"I heard some construction noises while I was trying to sleep last week," Maggie started to explain, while Luan heard her and turned to look at her with worry. "However, since I'm sort of a pessimist, and I thought I was just hallucinating, I went back to sleep. And by the time I woke up, our tree was no longer in our backyard."

Luan shivered. "No..."

Maggie sighed. "So, my family and I went to look for a new tree, and we went to see Flip, who sold those trees at "reasonable" prices. We looked around for a while... until we found one familiar tree."

The emo and the comedian exchanged looks, and without saying a single word, they went back inside, and brought the tree to the backyard. Once they had brought the large tree there, they rolled it until they spotted a marking on the trunk.

"Property of the Frosts."

"He stole your tree?!" Luan exclaimed in horror and disbelief. "W-Why would he do that?!"

"To get a quick buck, what else would someone like him do?!" Maggie snapped and put her hands on her pockets. "He took the tree we spent years taking care of just so he could sell it for a couple of bucks, just like the sleazy jerk he is!"

Luan turned back to the disturbing sight as Maggie sternly continued:

"He repeated this nonsense with every other family in Royal Woods, outside of yours for some reason, and he needs to pay. If you want to stop me from doing something bad like stealing stuff, fine, I understand, but if you really think that's more important than stopping a sleazy business from continuing to rip-off people, then I'm glad you practiced your comedy, but that's a big, unfunny joke."

With that said and done, Luan could only look away with regret and shame as Maggie tried to put the tree back to it's former glory. She then got up, and with a determined look on her face, she went to Maggie's side and tried to help her.

"What are you doing?" Maggie asked in confusion.

"It's kinda insensitive for me to act like you're in the wrong for trying to get your tree back," Luan sighed and gave Maggie a smile. "The least I could do is help you put the tree back together, right?"

Maggie smiled at the statement, and the promptly worked together to put the tree and trunk back together.


	2. Chapter 2

At the Loud house, one of its residents was looking at herself in a mirror, while wearing a small santa claus costume. The one that females were made to wear to look cute, not the fat one.

This resident was, of course, Lola Loud, the diva of the household.

"Oh, look at me right now, I look amazing in this outfit!" Lola spoke with the most narcissistic tone she could muster. "I think I know what I'm going to wear after my inevitable victory in today's beauty pageant."

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you."

The diva, offended by the statement, turned to look at whoever dared to say those words, who turned out to be her slightly older twin sister, Lana. She was leaning against the wall, with her arms folded.

"Okay, first, you should know by now that "confidence" is one of my greatest personality traits," Lola boasted, earning an eye roll from the plumber tomboy. "And second, why are you acting like such a downer? I mean, we're in December, the month of Christmas! A holiday that brings much appreciated joy all around the world-"

"Which is the exact opposite of what you'll bring to the Little Miss Christmas 2017 Pageant if you do participate," Lana sternly pointed out. "Just think about it for one second, Lola, the only joy you care about, most of the time, is your own, and the beauty pageant is supposed to bring joy to everybody. Add the fact that you tend to pull some dirty tricks in order to get first place, and your reputation, and you're likely going to be on the "banned" list."

Lola waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "Oh come on, I'm not that bad!"

Lana shook her head. "Need I remind that last year, you had to make a list of the good things you'd need to do in order to not be seen as naughty, because you knew you were going to be part of the naughty list after everything you did?"

"That was possibly the longest list I've ever been through," Lola shivered at the memories. "But, I'm not going to let your negativity bring me down, sister! I'm going to march to that beauty pageant, bring my greatest traits with me, and I'm fairly certain that-"

 _Cue gilligan cut..._

"I can't participate?!" Lola yelled at the top of her lungs.

The diva stood outside the entrance to the location where the "Little Miss Christmas 2017" beauty pageant was being held. This, of course, was the auditorium of the school, although she was just outside of the school in general, since a familiar burly guy was guarding the door.

And this guy was none other than Chunk, a friend of Luna.

"You heard me," Chunk bluntly stated.

"Why's that the case, then!?" Lola snapped at the bouncer. "And speaking of which, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be Luna's roadie?"

"I'm a roadie/bouncer for hire, as long as somebody pays me, I'll work for them, and your sister is a bit overdue to give me the money she owes me," Chunk bitterly answered. "And besides, I completely agree with the judges that you shouldn't be allowed to compete for the Little Miss Christmas 2017 title."

"And what makes them think that?!" Lola whined, stomping the ground.

"'Cause you're Lola Loud, the most infamous beauty pageant contestant in the world!" Chunk snapped before cracking his knuckles. "Any other day, you may've been able to come in, but this show's purpose is to cheer up people. And that's _never_ been, and will never be, your focus! Now get outta here!"

The pageant diva didn't listen, and stood her ground as hard as she could.

This didn't stop her from being literally kicked far away from the school by Chunk, who kicked her so hard, she was sent from the school to the park, right into a frozen pond. She cracked the ice covering the pond, and fell right into the water, only to resurface stuck inside an ice cube. Not that she stood there for too long, since the anger surfacing through her body heated both the ice cube and ice covering the pond, causing it all to melt away.

With that done, the girl took a deep breath before she swam to the shore like a dog would. And that wasn't the only dog-like thing she did, since she shook herself until she was dry again once she reached the ground.

"I hate to say it, but Lana's "doggy swimming" classes did pay off," the diva got up, dusted herself, and recomposed herself. "Even so, it's one thing to prevent me from participating in a beauty pageant. It's another thing entirely to kick me so hard I land at the park!"

The blonde girl swayed her hair to the left, and as it blew on the wind, she struck a pose. "Luckily, my impeccable looks were mostly undamaged! Who knows what sort of disaster would've happened otherwise!"

"Something you probably wouldn't care about."

The diva flinched and scanned her surroundings until she spotted a familiar face; Lindsey Sweetwater, somberly sitting at a bench with an annoyed look.

"After all, it's not like you ever think about the other contestants."

"Lindsey Sweetwater?!" Lola exclaimed in disbelief. "Okay, me not being able to participate, I can somewhat see the logic in that. But why are you banned too?"

"Our rivalry's pretty well-known around Royal Woods, right next to your reputation, of course," Lindsey somberly sighed. "I tried to promise that I would do my best not to be like you, and just spread good joy and whatever as good as I could, but the big guy wouldn't listen to me."

"Well, it's to be expected, you were probably going to reach second place anyway," Lola mockingly said as she sat next to the girl. "It's like you were fated to always be stuck in my shadow!"

"Just like how you were fated to always be a sore loser and winner?" Lindsey quipped.

"Lindsey, I like to see myself as a reasonable person, so I'll give you a warning," Lola cracked her knuckles. "Don't mock me again, or I'll reasonable beat you up with my bare hands!"

"And you wonder why you aren't allowed to participate in the beauty pageant," Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Do you really think beating somebody up is going to cheer someone other than yourself? It's the fact you care about your own happiness rather than the happiness of everybody else that made it impossible for you to join the beauty pageant!"

"Fair enough, Mrs. Joyspreader," Lola folded her arms. "If you have that much knowledge about how to spread joy and happiness and whatever, how about you teach me how to do that?"

"Now that's a good joke," Lindsey chuckled. "Trying to teach you how to spread joy is like trying to teach a penguin how to fly! It's biologically impossible! You need to be a nice person to know how to spread joy, and you're not a nice person."

"I-I can be nice!" Lola hissed, getting flustered.

"Your attitude through the rest of this year says otherwise," Lindsey folded her arms. "Besides, how do I know you won't just turn back to your old personality when it's all said and done? If that happens, then teaching you how to spread joy will mean nothing."

"Well, Mrs. Joyspreader," Lola folded her arms. "If you know so much about spreading joy, how about you show me how It's done?"

Lindsey smiled and grabbed Lola's hand before dragging her to do joyful things. These were just simple things that would make anybody happy: Helping an old lady cross the street, giving the bluebell scouts some tips on how to sell cookies, save some random kids from the mall manager's fury, simple stuff, really. However, one thing in particular caught Lola's attention:

After every action, Lindsey looked... satisfied. As if she was pleased with how things went, even if she didn't have any reward in return.

By the time they were finished, the diva suddenly asked, "Lindsey, can I give you joy somehow?"

The girl just smiled and answered, "There's always a way to give people joy."

Lola smiled, and next thing she knew, she and Lindsey were right about to finish building a snowman, with a top hat included. However, when the top hat somehow failed to bring the snowman to life, 'cause that's obviously supposed to happen, the girls exchanged looks, nodded, and started throwing snowballs at the snowman.

"That's what you get for ruining our expectations of reality!" Lindsey yelled before throwing another snowball.

"Yeah, how dare you not be brought to life by our amazing fashion sense!" Lola added, stiffling a laugh as she threw another snowball. "Is it weird that I was actually hoping it would come to life?"

"Nah, I was hoping that it would be brought to life too," Lindsey sighed. "But hey, sometimes we don't get what we want."

Upon hearing that, the diva remembered how every other meeting with Lindsey usually went for her: They met in a beauty pageant stage, ready to give it their all, and whether it was through fate or just dumb luck, Lola would always come out on top, with Lindsey usually landing in second place. However Lindsey felt about that, the diva couldn't help but feel, it probably wasn't a good feeling.

She had to divert her attention from that thought.

"So, that stuff about bringing joy felt... surprisingly good," Lola remarked as she shaped her snowball. "Do you do those kind of things often?"

"Nah, not really, there are already a ton of people who do things like that on their own, and I have other things in mind anyway," Lindsey rolled her eyes and finished her snowball. "I showed you the things I did just to show you what it looks like to bring joy to people, and what it feels like to do so as well."

That statement brought back the troubled feeling Lola got from the memory, and now it was clear: Now was the perfect time to apologize for everything that had gone done between them earlier, every beauty pageant. Either Lola apologized now-since she was the more sore of the two-or she missed this chance, possibly forever.

"Lindsey, I'm... I'm so sorry about everything," Lola nervously said, and she twiddled her fingers and looked away as she continued. "For starting our rivalry, for making fun of you in school, for generally boasting about my victory like how Lynn boasts about her victory every time she wins at something-!"

Lindsey then hit Lola with a snowball, giving the diva a teasing smile as she said, "Apology accepted."

And as the pageant princesses continued their snowball fight, Lana watched from afar, only to be approached by Chunk, who she gave a couple bucks.

"So, looks like your little plan worked after all, your twin sister did get a new friend," Chunk remarked in surprise. "But why did you need me to act as a bouncer to get her away from the pageant? In fact, why even do all this stuff in the first place?"

"She helped me get some time alone with Lynn," Lana smiled. "It's only fair that I repaid the favor."

The guy tipped his hat to the tomboy and left, leaving Lana behind to enjoy the sight. At the very least, Lola had some taste of what it felt like to make someone other than herself happy.

" _I hope you learned your lesson, Lola._ " Lana thought, sighing in relief. " _I really hope so._ "


	3. Chapter 3

At the Loud house, Luna put on a caroler outfit and walked to the door once she heard somebody knock on it. She then opened the door, and saw none other than Sam outside.

"Hi Luna," Sam greeted. "Are you ready to go out caroling?"

"You bet I am, dude!" Luna chirped with excitement. "I can't wait to sing with you and whoever else we're going with-"

"Yeah, alright, whatever," Sam hastily said before grabbing Luna's shoulders. "Just come with me already, okay?"

Luna nodded, and the duo left the house and started to wander around the city.

"Hey, I just want to thank you so much for inviting me to join the carols," Luna told the blonde musician, who looked at her surroundings with worry. "I always wanted to be part of a caroling group, and thanks to you, that dream will today become a reality!"

"Oh really? What a nice coincidence!" Sam chuckled. "I honestly just asked you to come 'cause you were one of the most trustworthy people I could think of."

"Trustworthy?" Luna repeated with worry just in time for Carol to arrive.

"Hello, my little Christmas bells!" Carol loudly greeted, only to lean closer to Sam and grab her chin. "And hello to you too, my sweet Sam."

At that moment, Sam thought "please don't kiss me" repeatedly on her head, while Luna just looked at the scene with confusion. That is, until something unexpected happened:

Carol kissed Sam. On the lips.

By the time the kiss finished, Carol went to look for the rest of the carolers while Sam tried to spit out the kiss feeling, and Luna's jaw looked like it was about to drop on the floor.

"Ugh, dang it, I really was hoping she wouldn't do that!" Sam whined, flinching once she saw Luna's shocked look. "Well, I know you have some more questions now, don't you?"

"Yeah, I mean, your sister kisses you in the mouth?" Luna shook her head. "Did she actually do that, or was it my imagination?"

"It was real, sadly enough," Sam rolled her eyes. "It's par for the course when someone has an unashamedly blatant crush on you, apparently."

"Your sister has a _crush_ on you?" Luna asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, a very passionate crush she supposedly can't control," Sam sighed. "Whenever possible, she either blows kisses at me, kisses me outright, or tries to get me to fall in love with her. But I'm not into her, you know? I mean, she's my sister!"

"Yeah, being in a relationship with your sibling sounds like a very weird deal," Luna added.

"And the worst part of this is, she knows that it's weird, but she keeps on doing it!" Sam smiled and put a hand on Luna's shoulder. "However, she acts a bit less weird when I'm with someone, and that's where _you_ come in! I need you to get in between me and Carol every time she's about to shower me with affection."

"I don't know, dude, are you sure this plan will work?"

"It has to work, otherwise... well, bad times are coming."

And then Carol came out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around both Luna and Sam's shoulders before pulling them closer to her. "Okay girls, let's get going so we can spread as much joy and Christmas spirit around the city as possible, alright?!"

"O-Of course!" Luna exclaimed, catching Carol's attention. "Just one question, how many houses are we going to visit?"

"Well, we're not really go to that many houses, we'll mostly just go around the city and sing in the sidewalk, at the corners, generally in a place where there will be a lot of people who will listen," Carol gently explained to Luna, before turning to Sam, "Our main objective is to sing these delightful tunes to the citizens of Royal Woods, alright? So, keep that in mind while you sing, that little bit pressure should convince you to give your 160%!"

"Yeah, no doubt about it, we'll give it our 160%!" Sam chirped as Carol separated from the duo. "In both singing, and anything else we may need to do!"

Carol brushed Sam's hair. "That's the spirit!"

Sam winked at Luna, who took a second to realize what this meant before returning the wink. And so, the caroling group started to go all around the city, bringing Christmas joy with their carols to anybody who didn't close their doors right in their faces. And every time that it looked like Carol was about to make a move on Sam, Luna got in the middle, either convincing Carol to leave it for later, or taking the treats all herself, not that Carol minded either way.

Eventually, the caroling was all said and done, and the trio separated from the other carolers-whichever ones there were-and went back to Sam and Carol's house. Luna, of course, was a bit worried about this turn of events, specially since she was going to her crush's house.

However, once they were at the house and got comfortable in the couch, it wasn't long before Carol threw a look at them. A look of... curiosity. Maybe even playful curiosity.

"I-Is something up, Carol?" Luna nervously asked.

"You wouldn't just so happen to by sweet little Sam's," Carol paused, and with a playful, teasing tone, she finished, "Girlfriend?"

Luna and Sam felt a chill go down their spine in unison, and they blushed and started sweating bullets as Carol leaned closer, sporting a smug grin.

"Y-Yes!" Luna suddenly shouted, catching the blonde's attention. "Yes, I'm Sam's girlfriend!"

"Oh really? Is that so?" Carol's grin grew wider. "Kiss, then."

Luna gasped and took a step back, only to basically shut down when Sam turned to her, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her towards her before planting a kiss on her lips. A kiss that Sam maintained for a couple seconds until Carol's grin turned into a surprised smile, looking like she bought the lie.

Once the kiss ended, though, Carol started laughing out loud:

"Oh, Sam, you're so cruel! First you make the girl who has a crush on you act like your bodyguard against my advances, and now you plant your first kiss in order to keep the lie alive!"

Luna and Sam blushed and flinched as they exclaimed, in unison, "You knew?!"

And then Sam realized something and turned to Luna. "You have a crush on me?!"

"I think this is my cue to leave you two alone," Carol teasingly said as she got up. "I hope you manage to come to equal grounds, see ya!"

Carol bolted out of the living room, and both Luna and Sam sighed and leaned back against the couch, groaning in exasperation at what just happened. They remained there for a moment, until Sam got back up and turned to Luna, asking, "So, do you really have a crush on me?"

Not seeing any other choice, the musician got up as well and looked elsewhere while blushing. "Yes, I do have a crush on you."

Sam put a hand on her cheek, "Huh, a girl crushing on another girl... hmm..."

The blonde musician got an idea and asked, "Would you just so happen to have sent me a love letter? Or are you one of those people who crush on people from afar?"

"Well... if I tell you, do you promise not to freak out?" Luna asked in return, earning a nod from Sam, which was enough to convince her to answer, "Yes, I did send you a love letter."

Sam nonchalantly took out a love letter and asked, "Would you just so happen to have signed it as L?"

Luna flinched and tried to snatch the letter away, shouting, "G-G-Give me that!"

"So you really are the one who wrote it," Sam remarked, making Luna freeze in place. "I asked Carol for advice on this letter some time ago and... things got weird. But the point is, I asked her for advice on what to do, and she suggested that the one who sent it was a girl."

The Loud rocker returned to her sense upon hearing that, and she backed away before asking, "And what did you say about that?"

"I'm pretty sure I asked her not to get ahead of herself, and not claim the one who sent the letter was a girl before getting any clues or hints," Sam answered, glancing at the letter before turning back to Luna, with a worried smile. "That doesn't bother you, right?"

"No, don't worry, you're good," Luna returned the worried smile and waved her hands. "I probably would've agreed with your sister on that deal, too. It's just so annoying when people jump into conclusions.

Then she lowered her head and sighed. "I should know, my family as a whole has a bad habit of doing that."

What came next was a long silence as the duo looked elsewhere, not knowing what to say, or even think, about the current situation. The girl Luna liked now knew her feelings, the secret was out, and if she made one single mistake, everything could fall apart. Logically, the only thing that seemed to be for the best was to stay silent and for the best.

"L-Luna?" Sam stuttered, shattering the silence.

"Yes?!" the rocker shouted, only to calm down and repeat, "I mean, yes, Sam?"

Once the shock wore off, the blonde musician twiddled her fingers and blushed as she asked, "What exactly do you like about me? What's the one thing about me that made you... get a crush on me?"

"Well, you have an amazing singing voice," Luna blushed and scratched the back of her head. "At least, I think It's amazing."

Sam flinched and her blush grew redder and bigger as she nervously stuttered, "R-Really? I-I mean, your voice sounded really good when we were caroling, so you're not too shabby yourself."

"Hehe, thanks, Love."

Luna covered her mouth the instant she realized what she said, though luckily, when she turned to look at Sam, the musician seemed more amused than disturbed.

"So, do you call people "Love" often, Luna?" Sam twiddled her fingers and looked elsewhere. "'Cause if you do, and you also have a crush on me, wouldn't it be better if we were dating, so people wouldn't find it weird how you call me "Love" or anything?"

Luna uncovered her mouth and shared a long stare with Sam, at least until she said, "This is the part where you invite me to be your girlfriend."

"...W-Would you be my girlfriend?" Luna asked.

Sam silently nodded, with a wide, enthusiastic smile.

Luna smiled, and after a couple seconds, she leaned closer for a kiss... only for Sam to back away and sheepishly say, "L-Let's take it a bit slower, okay?"

Luna, understanding how awkward this must be for the blonde, nodded and smiled before sharing a hug with Sam, with a proud Carol taking a peek from upstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

At the Loud house, in Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, the latter was sleeping like a snoring baby gorilla, while the former was having... a bit of a dilemma.

"I can't decide!"

The emo girl ruffled her hair as she glanced between a picture of Rocky Spokes, younger brother of Lincoln's friend Rusty Spokes and her former crush, and Silas, older brother of her friend Haiku and her new crush.

"How am I supposed to pick a guy to hang out with during Christmas?!" Lucy pulled her hair before grabbing the picture of Rocky. "I could go with Rocky, but seeing how our relationship didn't go too far due to Rusty's fear of blood, I'm not sure he'd let us continue hanging out."

Then she put the Rocky picture down and grabbed the Silas picture. "In that case, I could go with Silas, but I'm pretty sure Haiku would have like a billion rules to shove down my throat to make sure her brother's pleased."

Lucy released the picture, and rested her head on her pillow for about a second before she got an idea.

"I know who can help me with this!" the girl said with a smile.

Moments later, Lucy stood in front of her brother's bedroom door and knocked it three times, with the boy answering soon afterwards.

"Oh hi Lucy," Lincoln greeted with a smile... and a bored tone. "Do you need something?"

"Yes, I do," Lucy clasped her hands. "I need your help with something urgent!"

Lincoln flinched, getting the feeling he knew what the girl was going, and nervously asked, "W-What do you need, Lucy?"

"Do you know where Leni is?" Lucy asked innocently, tilting her head to the right as she added, "I need her help with some relationship issues."

Lincoln, who hid his relief behind a blank look, took a deep breath and answered, "She's downstairs, wrapping up some gifts."

Lucy gasped. "And she's doing it alone?"

The boy's expression went from blank to worried in an instant.

"You know what? I'll go with you," Lincoln stated as he and Lucy went downstairs. "Just in case we need to free Leni from some gift wrapping... again."

And lo and behold, when the duo of siblings went to the living room downstairs, Leni was covered in gift wrapping, while the gift box she was supposed to wrap didn't even have a ribbon on it. The duo immediately went to their older sister's help, and freed her from her wrapping prison in no time.

"Aw, thanks a lot," Leni sighed in relief. "I felt that, like, I was about to turn into a gift or something."

"I honestly have no idea why nobody's helping you with this," Lincoln said as he grabbed some wrapping. "Anyway, Lucy needs your help for something, so go help her with whatever she needs and I'll deal with the gift wrapping."

"Is what Linky's saying true, Lucy?" Leni inquired, turning to her gothic sister with a delighted look. "You need my help with something?!"

"Y-Yeah, I do," Lucy nervously answered. "And if you can, please don't act so happy in my face, it's really freaking me out."

Leni squealed and took Lucy to the living room to talk about whatever she needed to discuss. And so, once she calmed down so as to let Lucy know she had nothing to fear... yet, the goth promptly explained:

"So, I have these two guy friends: Rocky Spokes and Silas. The former you probably remember, 'cause you and our other sisters tried to change me in order to get him to like me."

Lucy paused to throw an angry look at Leni, who sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and laughed. She then continued:

"However, things didn't exactly work out between us: Something about his brother being squeamish about blood, fake or real, made it impossible for our relationship to blossom. Not because a lot of blood was involved, but because it would deal with creepy things, and I don't want anybody to suffer just to make me happy. Anyway, Silas is a guy I'm crushing on now. He's a goth... emo... guy, just like me, and I like to think we share a lot in common."

Leni nodded and folded her arms. "Okay, and what exactly is the problem?"

"Christmas is coming up, and I have no idea who to hang out with! Rocky or Silas, I just can't decide!" Lucy exclaimed, suddenly becoming emotional. "What do you think I should do?"

The fashionista shook her head and giggled. "Hang out with _both_ of them."

"That won't work, they don't even know each other, so it's unlikely they'd be willing to hang out with me at the same time," Lucy replied, only to get an idea. "Unless I actually make them friends! Rocky likes dark things, Silas seems like a dark person, so they probably share something that lets them become friends!"

Lucy hugged her older sister. "Leni, you're a genius!"

"Nah, I'm not," Leni chuckled as she returned the hug. "You just have the Loud family's bad habit of jumping to conclusions."

"That doesn't change the fact that I now know what to do to fix my problem!" Lucy answered before separating from Leni and running upstairs. "Thanks again, Leni, I'm off to write some letters!"

Leni waved goodbye, and once the emo was out of view, the fashionista got a gut feeling, almost as if her body was gesturing her to feel unnerved, or otherwise surprised about. And yet, the girl didn't seem to

"I get the feeling I should feel disturbed, but I don't know why," Leni scratched her chin for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh well, at least Lucy's happy!"

 _Later, at the Spokes household..._

Lucy knocked the door, then put a letter on the ground before she ran off and hid inside a bush. Once there, she watched as Rocky opened the door, took the letter, and read it out loud:

"Would you like to come with me to the Burpin' Burger? Don't answer, just come."

The boy smiled, "Sounds good, I've always wanted to go there."

Lucy silently sighed in relief in the bush as Rocky went back inside, and once he went in, she got out of hiding and ran to Silas' house, thinking, " _One down, one to go!_ "

So once she arrived at the household, she repeated what she did with Rocky, and Silas checked the note before stating:

"Meh, I got nothing better to do."

With both boys certainly going, Lucy's plan was seemingly coming into fruition, so she headed to do the next part of her plan in the only logical place...

 _The Graveyard!_

Nah, just kidding, she went to Burpin' Burger. Gotcha, didn't I?

"Okay, they both should be coming here anytime soon, I just need to lay low, watch the scene from the shadows, and make sure everything goes according to plan," Lucy said to herself as she took a peek of the front door from her seat. "Not that it should be hard, I mean, I've had so much practice with my family, willingly or by accident, that I'm basically a modern ninja right now, but without the super cool magic powers and-"

"Lucy?!"

The goth flinched and turned around to see both Rocky and Silas come through the door close to her seat. Looks like Lucy found out what was the one factor she forgot to take into account.

"H-Hi, guys," the goth nervously greeted as she got off her seat and walked to the boys' side. "W-What a coincidence that we all met here, Isn't it? Hehehe-"

"What are you doing here?!" Rocky exclaimed in disbelief. "I know I sound angry, but I'm asking the question in general, I have no idea what's going on."

"I, too, would like to know what's going on," Silas added in his usual deadpan tone. "Just like the eternal darkness inside my heart, my mind is completely blank on how to interpret this situation."

Seeing she was cornered, the gothic girl took a deep breath, and answered:

"I was trying to make amends with you. Both of you."

The boys raised an eyebrow as Lucy turned to look at Rocky.

"Rocky, things between us didn't work out, but it wasn't from lack of trying," the goth looked at the ground. "I left you heartbroken by refusing to continue our relationship, and I've been feeling guilty about it since then."

Then she turned to Silas, who flinched as she spoke. "And Silas, after our first meeting, I haven't even tried to hang out with you again because I was afraid the same thing that happened with Rocky would happen to you."

"I wanted to try fix things between us three, and I thought making you two friends would be a decent first step to the solution... but I guess I was wrong. I should've taking things slowly, one by one, rather than trying to get you two to become friends right away."

Rocky and Silas exchanged looks, and they turned back to Lucy and said, in unison:

"Why didn't you just ask?"

Lucy was confused. "Wait, what? Why didn't I ask what?"

"If we were friends or not, 'cause we definitely are!" Rocky excitedly answered before wrapping his arm around Silas' shoulder. "We usually meet up at my house to watch creepy movies every Thursday!"

"And then we had to switch to my house when one of those movies wound up having a lot of visible blood, scaring your brother," Silas pointed out, rolling his eyes. "And it also scared you into jumping to my arms."

And as the boys laughed, Lucy's brain finally processed what this meant: "Wait, you two met before?!"

"We have lives of our own, Lucy," Rocky laughed as Silas shook his head with an amused smile. "It's not like everything suddenly stops when you're not there."

"Granted, us meeting each other, let alone become friends, is kinda hard to believe," Silas said. "But hey, if someone like you and Haiku can like the Princess Pony series, then anything's possible, right?"

Lucy flinched, and rubbed her arm as she said, "What? Where did you get such a-"

"Don't even bother trying to deny it, Haiku told me everything about it," Silas replied, putting up a smug smile as he added, "She was so happy that she had another goth friend who liked the same things she did, that she couldn't keep it hidden for long."

Lucy sighed and covered her face.

"Say, Lucy?" Rocky asked.

The girl looked back at the boys as the redhead asked, "Silas is going to have a movie night at his house, and we were wondering if you'd like to come along? It's a Princess Pony movie, but-"

"No way, Princess Pony has a movie?!" Lucy exclaimed, only to calm down before repeating, "I mean, Princess Pony has a movie? Since when?"

"Last year, it apparently got so popular that they made a movie about it, and I was thinking we could sit together and see if it was good or bad," Silas explained. "Would you like to join us?"

Lucy remained silent for a moment, before smiling with delight.

 _And seconds later..._

The girl was sitting in the couch, right between Rocky and Silas as the latter was getting ready to start the movie in the DVD player.

"Sorry for not asking you if you were friends or not first," Lucy apologized, getting Rocky's attention. "I honestly didn't give my plan much thought."

"Hey, the past is in the past," Rocky said as he wrapped his arms around Lucy's shoulder. "Let's focus on the now, okay?"

"Specially 'cause the movie's about to start," Silas pointed out.

The trio turned back to the screen, and Lucy hugged both boys as they sat back and enjoyed the movie... all while mocking and making fun of it.


	5. Chapter 5

**So, I'm afraid this'll be the final chapter for this story, because I have other plans for tomorrow-aka New Years Eve-and I have literally nothing else to add to this little collection... okay, there might be one more story, but I'll try to make it standalone instead.**

 **Now, without further ado, to the grand finale of this collection!**

* * *

In the snow-covered streets of Royal Woods, a little girl stood outside a hat store, where she watched through the window how a woman spoke with the man behind the counter. This girl was Darcy, who was anxiously waiting for her mother to come out.

And once the lady did come out, Darcy immediately strolled to her mother's side.

"Did you get the magician hat, mommy?!" Darcy excitedly, and slightly hopefully, exclaimed. "Please tell me you did."

The woman sighed and ruffled Darcy's hair as she said, "They didn't have it, darling, but I'm sure we can find a hat elsewhere."

"I really hope so, mommy," Darcy twiddled her fingers. "I really wanna bring a snowman to life!"

Darcy's Mother just chuckled as the duo continued to walk around the city, only to come across a familiar face: Mrs. Shrinivas, Darcy's kindergarten teacher.

"Hi Mrs. Shrimpdivas!" Darcy loudly greeted, catching the woman's attention.

"Um, It's Shrinivas, Darcy," the woman corrected before crouching down and rubbing the girl's hair. "And hello to you too."

"We weren't exactly expecting to find you here today," Darcy's Mom said as Shrinivas turned her attention to her. "Any particular reason you're out here?"

"Well, I just decided to take a look around the city," Shrinivas turned to look at her surroundings, and so did Darcy and her Mom as she added, "Royal Woods looks so pretty when It's covered in snow, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, Royal Woods looks pretty while It's snowy," Darcy stated, only to get an idea. "You know what would make it even prettier, though? Sentient snowmen! Do you know any hat store that sells magical top hats?"

"Please forgive my daughter's imagination," Darcy's Mother said with slight worry. "Ever since she watched that weird cartoon where a snowman comes to life, she's been trying to get a snowman to come to life once a month since then."

"Once a month?" Shrinivas repeated with worry. "How many times has she tried to get it to work?"

"Again, once every month, for about a year and a half," Darcy's Mother sighed and shook her head. "Eighteen attempts, and eighteen failures."

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm not that mad: It's clear that the problem's that the hats we were using weren't the right kind of hats!" Darcy said with an optimistic tone. "I used a cowboy hat, a chef hat, a lot of hats but a top hat. I'm certain that once we use a top hat, the snowman will come to life for sure!"

The women exchanged looks, and Darcy's Mother promptly stated, "Yes, honey, that's definitely going to happen-"

Darcy suddenly got enthusiastic. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's keep looking!"

"Okay, we'll get going soon, sweetheart," the woman said before turning to Mrs. Shrinivas, "But first, I need to talk with your teacher about something."

Shrinivas tilted her head, and next thing she knew, she and Darcy's Mother sat down on one of those tables with umbrellas as seen in some restaurants. Then, Darcy's Mother told Mrs. Shrinivas her plan, and she couldn' help but repeat it:

"You want me to try and help Darcy's dream come true?"

"Mrs. Shrinivas, I don't know if you have children or not, but seeing a child saddened at having their dreams shattered is one of the worst things to see," Darcy's Mom explained. "Specially if you're a mother, and the sad child in question is your own child. It's devastating to see your son or daughter so disappointed and disraught."

Mrs. Shrinivas checked her pockets, and took out a picture of her and what could be considered both her husband and her child, the former's face being covered by her finger, while she held the later in her arms. Not only that, but her child had a suspicious similar appearence to Clyde.

"I may have an idea of how that feels like." Shrinivas put the picture back on her pocket and smiled with determination. "So, I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know when things are ready."

"Thank you, Mrs. Shrinivas, you don't know how grateful I am that you accepted to help," Darcy's Mother got up and returned to her daughter, "Well, I gotta go help Darcy find a top hat. See ya."

Mrs. Shrinivas bid farewell, and she herself began her search for something that could help her trick Darcy into thinking a snowman had really come to life thanks to a simple hat. But who could actually help her with said illusion?

Well, how about a certain goth who was into occultism? Who she just so happened to meet in the middle of her walk.

"Oh, hi, you're one of Lisa's sisters, right?" Mrs. Shrinivas greeted, getting the goth's attention. "I think I've seen you walking around the school before."

"Yes, I'm Lucy Loud, one of Lisa's older sisters, and the future best mortician in all of Royal Woods," Lucy answered in her usual deadpan tone. "Now, I know you may find what I'm doing to be weird-"

"Nah, I don't find it weird at all," Shrinivas answered, shaking her head with a friendly smile. "It's perfectly normal to try and make snow angels all around the city, heck, I did the same thing when I was your age."

"I'm not making a snow angel, I'm making a snow grim reaper," Lucy put the shovel on the ground and pointed at the figure. "See? It has the tunic, and I'm now making their scythe where their hand would be."

Shrinivas took a closer look and lifted her eyelid. "That scythe looks more like a tilted hockey stick to me."

Lucy took a closer look as well, and once she realized the woman was right, she seemingly frowned and said in exasperation, "It's a work in progress."

"Well, eitherway, allow me to ask a favor out of you," Shrinivas said, earning a confused look from the goth. "You see, I want to make one of my students' dream come true, which involves putting a hat on a snowman and bring it to life-"

"Ah, the classic "living snowman" thing as seen on tv, I remember when I got my first heartbreak over finding out it was a bunch of balooney," Lucy sighed and smiled. "I bet that girl's first heartbreak is gonna be just as memorable."

"Which is why it musn't happen!" Shrinias sighed in frustration. "Listen, I promised Darcy's Mother that I would help Darcy achieve her dream! All you need to do is get inside a snowman, and speak through it until Darcy's convinced you're alive."

"So I'll become a snowman's skeleton... that sounds cool, in a way," Lucy remarked. "But you do realize that I won't be able to move the body, right?"

"Of course, we'll just say you're so cold right now that you're incapable of moving anything but your arms," Shrinivas crouched down and put her hands on the goth's shoulders. "Just, please, would you help me with this?"

Lucy smiled, "Sure. I guess I could give this a shot, but what should I do?"

Shrinivas smiled in relief, then whispered the plan to the goth... who was seemingly excited for it after hearing it.

 _Sometime later..._

Shrinivas lead Darcy's Mother and Darcy, the latter holding a top hat, to the spot where Lucy originally was. Only instead of Lucy, there was now a smiling snowman standing right next to Lucy's snow grim reaper.

"Okay then, it took us a long time to get a top hat, so this better work," Darcy's Mother stated, before whispering to Shrinivas, "I do need to ask, though, what's your plan to make Darcy think the snowman came to life?"

Mrs. Shrinivas gave the woman a wink. "Trust me, it'll explain itself once you see it, hehehe."

So the trio headed to the snowman, and Darcy put the hat on top of it without hesitation. And though at first, the snowman didn't move or anything, it eventually moved It's arms a bit before shouting, with a somewhat deadpan tone:

"Oh my, I'm alive!"

And as Darcy excitedly jumped up and down, Mrs. Shrinivas and Darcy's Mother exchanged looks.

"It worked! It really worked!" the young girl chirped. "I can't believe the hat brought you to life!"

"Yes, I'm a living snowman now," the snowman "spoke" with a deadpan tone. "Who's the wonderful little... whoever they are, that gave me the wondrous gift of living?"

"It's me! Name's Darcy!" the girl chirped. "Are you happy to be alive, snowman?"

"It feels kinda weird: I originally wasn't here, and now I am, and I don't wanna go away," the snowman raised It's arms. "Can I get a hug from the one who gave me life?"

Darcy moaned, then gave the snowman the biggest, tightest hug she could give it. Luckily, however, she didn't hug the snowman hard enough to go through It's body, after all it would be rude to do such a thing.

So, once she felt the hug went for long enough, Darcy separated from the snowman, went back to her mother, and cheerfully strolled off to see the rest of the city, but not before her mother gave Mrs. Shrinivas a satisfied wink, which she returned soon afterwards. And then, once the pair were out of sight, Lucy came out of the snowman, causing it to crumble to pieces.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Lucy remarked as she walked to Mrs. Shrinivas' side. "I'm surprised she just stopped at the hug: I thought she was going to try take me home with her, or, I don't know, try to show me to some people to try prove how magic was real."

"Darcy may be a friend of your sister, but she's nothing like her," Mrs. Shrinivas answered. "Let's just focus on the important, okay? Darcy's wish came true, and hey, maybe you did enjoy cheering up little Darcy. I bet you don't do that very often."

"No, I don't," Lucy shook her head, then sighed and smiled. "But... I'll be honest, I may do it again sometime. Not right away, of course, but if I ever get the chance to bring a smile, I may give it a shot. I'm feeling really satisfied."

Mrs. Shrinivas chuckled a bit before taking the Princess Pony book she offered Lucy before. "So, are you so satisfied, that you don't want the book anymore?"

"Lady, I may feel satisfied, but I still want something for helping you," the goth shook her head and giggled. "I mean, you promised me that book, and nothing will convince me to not take it. Still, it felt nice making that girl happy."

Lucy took the book and walked away while hiding it as well as she could. Mrs. Shrinivas? She just stood right where she was, right before she took out the picture of her with her family and smiled at it.

" _Hopefully, I'll be able to make you smile too someday... Clyde._ "


End file.
